Chapter 14
"Is this your daddy, Princess? We have the same color eyes, don't we? Is that why you like me?" AJ smiled at her.
Annie climbed up in his lap and put a hand on each cheek and looked into his eyes. Smiling she nodded. "She has not responded this much in months, AJ. See if you can get her to talk?" begged Lili.
"Can you tell me your daddy's name, Princess?" he asked her gently, tracing the man in the picture with his finger and smiling at the child in his lap.
Annie frowned and took the picture and jumped off AJ's lap to put the picture back where it belonged. "Well it was worth a shot," sighed Lili.
"It will happen, Lillian, you can't expect it to all happen at once," he smiled at her gently and then said, "Well, I had better leave you two lovely ladies to your evening, I still have a truck of stuff to unload when I get home! Here is my number, why don't you call me and let me know what night is good for pizza and a movie," he said handing her a piece of paper with his name and number on it.
"Thank you, AJ, for everything. Why don't we try Wednesday night? That way it will break up the week so it won't seem so long."
"Wednesday it is, what kind of pizza does the princess and her mommy like?"
"Anything as long as it has extra cheese," she smiled.
"How about half sausage, half deluxe with extra cheese on all of it?"
"Sounds wonderful as long as I don't have to cook it," grinned Lili. "Come around 6:30. That should give me time to get home and get changed. I'm sure Annie will be looking forward to your return."
"Ok, will do!" he kissed the back of her hand and left with a smile.
When AJ got home that afternoon he began unloading the things he had bought for the nursery. There was a bed, a rocker and layette. He'd bought a bassinet for his room. He had even picked up some toys. A teddy bear and some rattles along with some building blocks. But he couldn't decide what color to do the room in. It would make it so much easier if he knew the baby's sex. Going into the living room he phoned Bud.
Picking up the phone on his end Bud said, "Hello Roberts Residence."
"Bud, its AJ. How soon before it's safe to do an amniocentesis test?" asked AJ, sitting down in his recliner.
"To do one safely, the mother needs to be five to five and a half months along in the pregnancy. Why do you ask, sir?"
"I want you to contact the surrogate mother and see if she would be willing to take the test. I'm anxious to know the sex of the baby. I was planning the nursery and it hit me, I could actually know what color to paint it, if she would agree."
"I'll send her a letter tomorrow, Sir, and by the end of the week we should know if she will have the test," replied Bud.
"Can't we move this faster? You know where she lives, you could call her. That way, by the end of the week we could know the sex of the baby," demanded AJ.
"Yes, sir, I'll call her and get back to you with her answer," said Bud, as they hung up.
Lili's phone rang and she answered, "Hello."
"Is this Lili?"
"Yes, it is, who's this?" she asked, frowning.
"This is Bud Roberts, Ma'am, I was calling with a request from my client," Bud told her.
"What does your client want, Mr. Roberts?" she asked, worriedly.
"My client wonders if you would be willing to undergo an amniocentesis test, to determine the sex of the child," Bud informed her gently.
The phone was silent for a moment before she said, "I will have it done on one condition. I don't want to know the sex of the child. I'll have my doctor send the test results to you and then you can tell your client. Is that satisfactory?"
"That is perfectly acceptable, thank you, I will inform my client," Bud hung up and called AJ back immediately.
As the phone rang AJ picked it up and answered, "Chegwidden."
"Admiral, I just spoke to Lili and she is willing to have the test. Her only request was that her doctor send the email to us, she does not wish to know the sex of the child."
To be continued….